SWR Targeted completion of Railway projects
sought
In the wake of the
Siddaramaiah government’s reluctance to continue with the 50:50 cost-sharing
Railway projects in the State that could derail over 26 ongoing projects,
experts and Railway men suggest that the Railway Board and the government sit
together and take up two or three projects in a year to take them to the
logical end.
At
present, there is no proper joint supervision of cost-sharing projects — the
State government as well as the Railway Board release their share of funds —
that are spread across the ongoing projects. At the end of the year, all the
projects would register nominal progress, while the delay results in steep
escalation of costs, sources in South Western Railway (SWR) said.
Stating
that going back from the cost-sharing pact might send wrong signals to the
general public, the sources said that two or three projects could be taken up
in a year to achieve complete progress. Now, the State government releases
about Rs. 700 crore and the Board an equal amount.
Though
the Chief Minister recently wrote to Railway Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda to
rework the cost-sharing agreement limiting the State’s share to 33 per cent of
the project cost, including the cost of land, he later relented and said that
the government was prepared to honour the commitment. With land becoming
dearer, in view of the new land acquisition Act, and the delay by the Railways
in executing the projects must have prompted the Chief Minister to seek a
relook on the agreement.
Prioritise projects
Sharing
similar views, Sanjeev Dyamannavar of www.praja.in said that important new
lines such as Bangalore-Hassan, Tumkur-Rayadurg, Tumkur-Chitradurga-Davangere,
Gulbarga-Bidar, Gadag-Wadi and Bagalkot-Kudachi, which would impact the
economies of the respective region, should be taken up on priority.
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